SCAMP – a quadcopter than can perch and climb (and fly too)

SCAMP is a small quadcopter from Stanford University that can fly to a wall, grab onto it and climb to position. The motivation behind SCAMP (Stanford Climbing and Aerial Maneuvering Platform) is very logical, since quadcopters can only for a limited amount of time it might be useful to rather fly to the destination and perch on a wall to observe the scene while saving battery power. However SCAMP takes it one step further by being able to climb on the wall once it is perching, allowing it to get into a better position for a better view or better signal reception. SCAMP is also novel because its one of the first to perform all of the computations on board rather than relying on external computers.

The video below shows the quadcopter in action and also explains how it works, for more information check out the Stanford project page